Notes from the Compiler

The eighteenth volume of the Book and Paper Group
Annual includes six papers presented to the Book and Paper
Group Session at the AIC 27TH Annual Meeting in St. Louis Missouri.
For the first time the Annual has also included
abstracts of papers that were presented at the meeting but for which
full text was not available; many of these authors have expressed
plans to submit their papers future volumes of the
Annual or to publish their material through other
venues; be on the watch for them. Additional articles in this volume
were originally presented as posters or tips at the BPG Session.
Three papers have been submitted independently by the authors. The
article "Architectural Drawings on Transparent Paper," which first
appeared in German in Restauro in 1998, is here revised
by the authors and translated into English.

At the St. Louis meeting the Book and Paper Group joined the
Photographic Materials Group sponsoring a special session on the
topic of albums and scrapbooks. Papers presented at that session
have been gathered into a separate publication, Conservation
of Scrapbooks and Albums, and distributed to the membership
of both specialty groups.

The Annual, volume 18, and Scrapbooks
have been my first essay at compiling publications for the Book and
Paper Group. I have benefited greatly from the dedication,
enthusiasm, and support of the Book and Paper Group Publications
Committee: Walter Henry, Jane Klinger, Kate Maynor (chair), Olivia
Primanis, Alan Puglia, Kim Schenck, Dianne van der Reyden, and
Shannon Zachary. Nancy Purinton (BPG chair, 2000) and Abigail Quandt
(BPG chair, 1999) attended meetings ex officio and provided
valuable perspectives.

Whitney Baker, Normandy Helmer, and Olivia Primanis assisted with
proofreading to very tight deadlines. I am grateful for their
sharp eyes and impressive collective knowledge; any typos that
remain are my own. Walter Henry continues to facilitate web
publication of past issues of the Annual, an
undertaking for which I have gained increasing appreciation and
respect. Beth Kline in the AIC Washington office has been an anchor
of experience and accommodation. The University Library of the
University of Michigan has provided technology, flexibility, and
tolerance—especially on the part of the Conservation Services
staff.

With the publication of Volume 17 in 1999, Robert Espinosa
retired from the position of compiler after producing twelve (count
'em, twelve!) consecutive volumes of the Annual.
Over those twelve years he has raised our expectations high; but he
has been generous and more than generous in passing along not only
the habit but the makings.